Of this Place;

The Parks and Pathways of Canyon Meadows

This work was developed as a response to themes identified during the City of Calgary "This is My Neighbourhood" project in Canyon Meadows during 2015/2016.  Feedback gathered through TIMN engagement activities showed that greenspaces in the community are valued by community members.  Garbage bins are present in these parks and the idea of using five of these bins to display maps to support wayfinding in the neighbourhood was developed.  A plan was also made to involve residents in the development of artwork for the bins.  Through a series of pop-up workshops in the parks,  community members created prints (shoe and footprints, handprints, bike tire prints) and paintings.  I created bricks to circle the bins using a frottage technique.  By rubbing watercolour pencils across the surface of the paper I was able to create  different textures from objects in each park.  I combined these prints, pieces of paintings and bricks in large collages.  Every person who contributed artwork at a pop-up event has their work represented on one or more of the bins.

A graphic designer who lives in Canyon Meadows was hired to produce the maps that were included on each bin.  Consideration was given to the feedback collected from community members at the pop-ups as to what information they would like to see on the maps.

Paper copies of these maps were also produced to be used in conjunction with a Community Association event(s).